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In anticipation of the heavy turnout of tourists during the Christmas season, Bali Police on Wednesday said it would deploy 1,200 personnel to beef up security throughout the province.

Bali Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sutisna said major tourist destinations such as Kuta, Nusa Dua and Ubud would be given security priority, as well as all entry points to the island, including Ngurah Rai International Airport and the ports of Gilimanuk and Padangbai.

“Even if the main players are dead, the terror network is alive,” Sutisna said in the provincial capital of Denpasar, referring to slain terror mastermind Noordin M Top. Noordin was suspected to have been the brains behind the 2002 Bali bombings, considered the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history.

“We won’t let our guard down, particularly since Bali has been a target of terror attacks twice,” he added.

Sr. Comr. Dewa Anom, chief of the Bali Police counterterrorism unit, said his division was focusing on alternative entry points, like traditional fishing ports.

Dewa said that Bali was still considered a prime target for terrorists, because attacking the country’s premier tourist destination would immediately attract the world’s attention, no matter how small-scale the attack.

In October 2002, a series of bomb explosions ripped through the popular Kuta tourist district, killing 202 people and injuring 204 others. Among the dead were 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians. Three bombs exploded during the attacks — near the US Consulate, Paddy’s Cafe and the crowded Sari Club.

Police blamed the bombings on Jemaah Islamiyah. Three people — Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Mukhlas Ghufron — were executed by firing squad in November 2008 for their roles in the bombings.

In October 2005, three suicide bombers, also believed to be members of Jemaah Islamiyah, killed 20 people and injured dozens more in attacks in Jimbaran and Kuta.

On Sept. 17, Noordin was killed in a raid in Solo, Central Java. He is also the suspected mastermind of the attacks at two luxury hotels in Jakarta in July.

During the anniversary of the bombings last October, dozens of relatives of bombing victims signed the “Peaceful Indonesia Declaration,” where they agreed to work together to empower and assist those affected by terrorism.